I did not get out of the house until after 11am and by then, the sky was looking pretty bleak toward Boulder. I was hoping for the best, but as soon as I started down the hill West of McCaslin, I could see a wall of rain and the temperature dropped from the mid 40's to the upper 30's. As soon as I drove into the squall of blustery wetness, I thought to myself that I did not need to be out in that mess, so I whipped a u-turn to head home. I backtracked a mile back toward home and felt really bad at the prospect of squandering a few precious hours of free time, so I busted another u and headed to Gregory TH.
A truck coming down Flag confirmed my suspicions that it was snowing up high, so I just had to endure rain for a short while. 6 or so minutes up Gregory, the rain stalled out and there were increasing traces of snow. Above the cabin, snow became the predominant surface and once on the NW ridge, it was a full on howling blizzard with at least an inch of fresh snow, with deeper drifts in spots.
Though I was wearing shorts, I was dressed just well enough to be comfortable(ish) as long as I did not slow down or stop for anything. I was so thankful that I made the decision to head up the hill. I was wearing the Hokas again and they did very well in the snow, but were a little slick on wet rock (as many shoes are, and they did however keep my feet relatively dry, as they are so high off the ground). Now it is snowing here at home in Louisville and I can't wait to go back tomorrow and play a bit in the new Wintry playground.
Splits:
39 up Gregory/Ranger (semi casual/survival pace)
22 down Gregory/Ranger (pushing a bit at times, but being super careful on the wet rock)
